1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an on-vehicle apparatus theft deterrence system.
2. Description of Related Art
Many car navigation apparatuses and car audio apparatuses are detachably installed to vehicles due to functional reasons or its convenience. Furthermore, many users install these apparatuses to his/her vehicle after purchasing of the vehicle (hereinafter, referred to as latter installation). The latter installation allows the user to select and install his/her favorite apparatus to his/her vehicle. However, these latter installed car navigation apparatuses and car audio apparatuses generally have a higher risk of theft in comparison to factory installed car navigation apparatuses and car audio apparatuses, thereby possibly annoying the users.
In order to limit the theft, the following technique is adapted in some cases. Specifically, in the car navigation system, which is stopped and activated simultaneously with stopping and activating of a drive source (e.g., an engine) of the vehicle, when the user stops the drive source of the vehicle, activation lock of the car navigation apparatus becomes effective to lock the activation of the car navigation apparatus. Then, at the time of restarting the drive source of the vehicle, the car navigation apparatus cannot be activated due to the activation lock. In order to release the activation lock, a Memory Stick (a registered trademark of Sony Corporation), which is a storage media having a preset security code, needs to be inserted into a slot of the navigation apparatus to authenticate the security code of the Memory Stick.
At this time, if the user does not carry the Memory Stick, the activation lock cannot be released to advantageously limit unauthorized use of the navigation apparatus. However, the user is annoyed by the need for carrying the Memory Stick with him/her to release the activation lock of the car navigation apparatus. Furthermore, the user may possibly forget to carry the Memory Stick. In such a case, the activation lock of the car navigation apparatus cannot be released.